


like old times

by delightwrites



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Families of Choice, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, One Shot, Team as Family, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, aang is a kid, brothers of choice, did i let that stop me? no, i got sidetracked while writing a bigger fic so have this, is Zuko too old and too serious and too Zuko for a tickle-fight? yes, let Zuko be a dumb teenager 2k20, they are all just kids, you can pry this trope out of my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24772009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delightwrites/pseuds/delightwrites
Summary: "You were right, Zuko!" Katara calls out, not even hiding the chuckle in her voice. "This really feels like old times!"Aang sprints past them laughing and the blast of wind that follows him puts out the campfire."Hey!" The girls complain in unision.-Ember Island reveals many things that are hidden. Like an unexpected family tie or the laugh of the oldest and most serious member of Team Avataror, the one in which Zuko finally catches the Avatar and the Tickle-Fight of the Century ensues
Relationships: Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 50
Kudos: 536





	like old times

**Author's Note:**

> this is dumb and also the fluffiest thing i've ever written, please enjoy!

Ember Island is the perfect vacation spot. Sure, it’s a long way away from home and Sokka isn’t really a big fan of the tropical heat but there’s a beach over there and you can _bathe_ in the _sea_ \- the very concept continues to blow his mind. If there wasn’t a war going on, with the threat of the world burning hanging over their heads, Sokka would count himself lucky he gets to camp here with his girlfriend and his sister and his friends.

They crash at the Fire Lord’s summer holiday house. Sokka’s well aware of the hilarity and the absurdity of it. But Zuko assures them it’s safe and Sokka _trusts_ Zuko. (Isn't that wild?) Plus, he’s glad to have a roof over his head that’s not the near-empty ruins of an Air Temple. Which is fine, by the way, but Sokka prefers sleeping on ground-level, thank you very much.

They all seem to be grateful for that, though none of their little group really takes to sleeping in separate rooms. (On their first night on the island, Sokka can’t sleep. Suki’s next to him but he can feel she’s awake too. He has to resist the urge to get up and peek into Toph’s room, to see if Katara’s sleeping allright, to check up on Aang. He can faintly hear Zuko tossing and turning in the room just right next to them. On the second night, they all drag their sleeping bags and blankets and mattresses down and sleep on the floor of the main atrium.)

Zuko gathers a bunch of old stuff from the house and declares he wants to make a campfire. They gather on the beach and Zuko makes Aang light the fire. It’s sort of a habit by now, every night to have him practice, Sokka thinks, but honestly, having firebenders on the team is so _convenient_. It was always Sokka who struggled with lighting a fire when they made camp for the night and now he has two walking firelighters with him at all times.

The fire crackles happily and if Sokka sees children’s books and portraits of Zuko’s family among everything the older boy throws into the fire, he doesn’t say anything.

No one knows they are here and there’s no one hunting them and there are no more trainings for the day so they just sit around the campfire and eat and talk. And they talk and talk and talk. Nonsense things. Sokka shares his plans to go shopping the next day. Toph boasts about how she invented metalbending to Suki and Zuko. Katara shares another ghost story from back home. Sokka doesn’t understand where she’s getting those and really, he’d rather not know because all of them are terrifying.

Sokka draws closer to Suki, just a little bit. Suki notices but doesn’t tease him for it and for that, Sokka loves her. She’s watching Aang instead, who cuddles Momo tighter, and Toph, who crosses her arms at her front protestingly, to show that she’s not scared, not at all.

“Wow, the South Pole’s a scary place,” Zuko breathes and it’s clear from his wide eyes that he’s not being sarcastic, Katara’s story got to him too. Maybe they could have started to spread these stories around and no firebender would have dared to even come close to their village...

“Says the guy from the Fire Nation...” Katara teases in a sing-song voice.

“The Fire Nation isn’t _that_ scary,” Aang answers. “They’re just people.”

“People who tried to kill us multiple times, Twinkletoes.”

Aang just shrugs.

“Not _all_ of them are scary, though,” he says and smiles at Zuko. Zuko stares into the campfire like he doesn’t really know how to answer to that.

"Aang’s right, guys,” Sokka says nonchalantly and no, totally not because he's grateful for the change in subject. “And I'm sure there's got to be at least _someone else_ in the Fire Nation who's also not scary. Or evil. Or at least not actively trying to kill us."

"Like your uncle!" Toph grins then elbows Zuko. "Right, Sparky?"

Zuko nods and there's that small smile of his that Sokka knows they've been all noticing lately.

"Yes!" Aang joins in the nodding. “See, Katara, for example, some of Zuko’s family aren’t all that bad...”

"I suppose," Katara agrees begrudgingly. "He did help us in Ba Sing Se, so... "

"My mom too," Zuko adds in a raspy voice. "She was nice too."

Katara goes quiet at that and Sokka does too, but he still shoots Zuko a supportive look.

"And," Zuko starts again, quietly, almost shyly. "My great-grandfather."

The silence that falls on everyone around the campfire might be the single most awkward thing Sokka has ever experienced. Which is a serious competition, by the way.

But seriously, _Zuko, what the-_

Sokka feels Toph tense next to him and Katara grips her chopsticks like they are murder weapons. Aang just goes pale.

He can't be seriously saying this to them, to Aang, right? Sokka knows that Zuko's attempts at humour can be... weird, for a lack of better word, but-

"Uh, Zuko?" It's Suki who breaks the silence, who asks, as polite as she can, but with a hint of threat present in her voice. "Your great-grandfather wasn't... " _A murderous evil psychopath?_ Sokka thinks. "... Fire Lord Sozin?"

"No!" Zuko sounds honest-to-all-spirits apologetic and even more awkward than usually. Their campfire flickers a little bit. "I mean... yeah, but I didn't mean him... I meant my other great-grandfather... On my mom's side."

Sokka sighs. Loudly. Okay. _That's_ okay.

_Tui and La_ , that was a fright.

"Oh right, because he must have been _so_ nice," Katara says sarcastically. She doesn't mean it maliciously, not after her own field trip with Zuko, but her humour isn't perfect either. They are alike, in that sense. But seriously, there's probably as much salt in his sister's voice as in the entire ocean and Sokka wonders when she claimed the role of resident sarcasm-guy. Girl. Whatever.

"He was!" Zuko protests. "I mean I didn't know him personally but uh... Actually, I do now... sort of-" he glances at Aang, and Sokka really can't make sense of any of this.

Zuko sighs in defeat, probably realising he has a tad more explaining to do.

"My great-grandafther was Avatar Roku."

_What the-_

Aang drops his chopsticks into his bowl.

"What?"

"My great-grandfather? That means he was my mom's grandfather, you know?" Zuko spells it out for Aang as if the only thing the boy could possibly be not understanding about this is the word _great-grandfather_.

"And it was Avatar Roku?" Sokka asks because Aang's mouth has fallen open and he looks like he needs someone to speak instead of him.

"It was Avatar Roku." Zuko nods.

"Wow, that's..." Katara starts, then she trails off.

"That's something," is all Suki manages.

"Zuko... " Aang mutters. He's still staring at the firebender with wide eyes, processing what he just heard. "Do you know what that means?"

"I know, I know, my uncle told me..." Zuko sighs. "It means that good and evil are at odds inside me and I'm the only one who can right the wrongs of my family and that my destiny..."

And that does sound great, but Sokka knows this isn't the right answer to Aang's question. He knows, because now Aang's got _that_ face on.

The face that Sokka's come to know - and fear - already in the early days of their travels. The face that Aang makes when he finds a wild and most likely very, very dangerous animal and decides he wants to pet it.

Zuko trails off when he notices Aang's grin.

"Wha-"

"It means you're my great-grandson!!"

With those words, Aang leaps over the campfire and - Sokka can't believe his eyes - tackles Zuko to the ground in a hug.

At the same time, it feels like the whole beach erupts with laughter.

Toph starts it - remarkable, since she can't see the expression on Zuko's face, which is, frankly, the most hilarious part of the whole thing. Sokka joins and Katara and Suki too, partly because Toph's laugh is contagious and partly because all of this would have been ridiculously unimaginable a couple months ago.

But now? Now it's just ridiculous.

It takes the former prince of the Fire Nation approximately half a minute to process what happened. That's how long he stays silent.

"Aang," he groans eventually and starts to peel the boy's arms off himself. "Get off me."

"No!" Aang grins cheerfully, then giggles and he buries his head in Zuko's shirt.

Zuko tries to wiggle his way out of Aang's embrace. A futile attempt against an airbender, Sokka has learned that long ago.

"Aang, seriously, get off me!" Zuko struggles half-heartedly. Sokka knows Zuko is strong, not to mention a firebender. If he really wanted to, he could easily get rid off the still childishly giggling Avatar on top of him. Aang definitely knows this. And so does Zuko. "Aa _aaaang_!"

Zuko says it like it's four syllables at least. It reminds Sokka of the way he likes to whine when Katara soakes him in water.

"Psst, Sparky," Toph calls out to Zuko when she's done laughing, still wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. She apparently took pity on the struggling Fire Prince and decided to help. "Twinkletoes is ticklish as hell."

Zuko stills.

"He is?" He asks curiously and looks up at Aang with a grin and Sokka thinks _oh, this is a game-changer_.

Aang freezes. Then he airbends himself up in the air and lets go of Zuko. He's lost enough tickle-fights against Sokka to know when to surrender.

He grins at Zuko innocently but the older boy isn't done yet.

"You... I'll get you for this!"

There's no threat in his voice, no anger, no violence. Times like this Sokka can't quite place the old Zuko together with this Zuko.

This Zuko, who jumps forward and when Aang runs away, chases after him with a smile on his face.

Sokka snorts.

"You were right, Zuko!" Katara calls out, not even hiding the chuckle in her voice. "This really feels like old times!"

Aang sprints past them laughing and the blast of wind that follows him puts out the campfire.

"Hey!" The girls complain in unision.

Zuko doesn't even stop, just sends a small flame their way and reignites it.

"He'll never catch Aang, hasn't he learned that already?" Sokka shakes his head with a smile. "The kid's crazy fast."

"We could help him out," Toph says and there's a wicked grin on her face and _hey, that's not a bad idea..._

Then Katara’s nodding and Sokka is standing up because this Zuko is so much more fun than the old Zuko. And if they've gotta help him out so he could catch the Avatar and defeat him in the Tickle-Fight of the Century (which is a title so far held by Sokka and Katara's memorable battle, by the way, back from when they were about four or five, which resulted in a half-collapsed tent and the accidental discovery of his sister's waterbending powers. But this one, Sokka thinks, promises to be more deserving of the title, so he might have to give up his crown), then so be it.

Sokka takes Suki's hand and they all head after Aang and Zuko. Toph stomps her foot into the ground and raises a wall of sand right in front of Aang.

The boy crashes into it but keeps running. It still slowed him down just enough for Zuko to catch up with him and now he's right at his heels.

Then Katara, who can barely contain her chuckles and who looks so much younger then she has in such a long time, swipes left with her hands and a giant wave emerges from the sea, knocking Aang down - and soaking all of them in the process.

Sokka, moving in synchron with Zuko, tackles the youngest boy on the ground. Zuko may have started this but Sokka would be damned to miss out on such a great opportunity.

"Is he really ticklish?" Zuko asks.

Sokka just grins as an answer.

He runs his fingers along Aang's ribs and the boy bursts out laughing. Zuko does the same at his other side. Aang tries to shove their hands away or break free but he's so much smaller than them and besides, it's not like he's trying too hard.

"Hahahah, mercy-ih-ih-" Aang struggles out between giggles. “Is this a wa-ay to-oh treat your gre-eh-eh-eat-gra-andfather, Zu-uh-ko?” But Sokka and Zuko have him pinned down to the ground and they don't stop.

The airbender laughs so hard the sand of the beach starts to circle around them and the small, incredibly annoying grains are all over their faces. And they get into Sokka's hair and his eyes and his mouth but he doesn't care because this is _fun_ and the girls are snickering behind them and Aang is giggling and Zuko is laughing, actually, really _laughing._

Sokka remembers he's barely a year older than him.

Sure, Sokka considers himself to be a capable warrior and practically-an-adult, but he's still young and he still likes teasing his sister and joking around with Aang and playing pranks with Toph. So yeah, Sokka knows he's still a kid, but if he is, then so is Zuko.

(And there's a war going on. And they almost never get to be kids.)

“I'm sorry-ih-ih-ih, Zu-hu-ko-ho-ho,” Aang wheezes, clutching his sides. “Sok-ka-ah, he-elp!”

Zuko huffs. Then he relents and releases Aang. The boy catches his breath and even though Sokka has also let go, he still clings to his arm.

“I won,” Zuko smiles and elbows their friend, “Avatar.”

“Alright, I totally deserved that...” Aang makes a face like he really really regrets what he did, but his voice carries mischief. “Sifu Hotman.”

There’s a beat of silence. It’s not awkward or tense. It’s a happy sort of silence and Sokka thinks it would be nice if it would stretch forever.

It doesn’t.

"Is that what you lily-livers call a tickle-fight?" Toph's voice booms right next to them and the three of them freeze.

Sokka glances up at her and then, because he sees what she's about to do, he shrieks.

Katara screams and Suki cheers as Toph launches herself at the three boys and they can’t even protest because they are laughing so hard.

They all know they don't stand a chance against her.

**Author's Note:**

> so basically this scene was supposed to be in my upcoming Gaang in the Western Air Temple fic but it just didn't fit, there you see? so it's a separate one shot and there's more friendship since Suki is also here and Katara is being friendly. hope you guys like it!
> 
> kudos and comments give me life
> 
> find me on tumblr @afuckindelighttobearound


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